The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and Opinions
Romania came back from 15-0 down in the last half an hour to pull off one of the biggest shocks of the World Cup so far against Canada.
The match was at the King Power Stadium; a venue which has seen a number of comebacks from Premier League Leicester City in recent times, and the rugby was no exception as Romania staged a remarkable fightback in the second half of this match.
It was a very dominant first half from Canada and they deservedly had a lead of 8-0 at half-time from a Gordon McRorie penalty and a DTH Van der Merwe try.
There was some great build-up play to the try after McRorie gained possession and spread the play out to the wing where Van der Merwe was able to get the ball down for his sixth try in five games. The try came shortly after Romania had Catalin Fercu sent to the sin bin and the shift in ascendancy really tested Romania’s resilience.
McRorie missed his first penalty of the game and also the kick to convert the try; mistakes he may have rued at the end of the match.
Canada extended their lead to 15-0 after the restart when Jeff Hassler muscled his way through the Romania line to touch the ball down, before Nathan Hirayama converted the try.
Romania then came back with strength; captain Mihai Macovei scoring two tries in the latter stages of the game set up an exciting finish.
The Canadians’ errors were the fault of the defeat as Jebb Sinclair was sent to the sin bin for entering a rook from the side and Nathan Hirayama missed a penalty to give his side some breathing space.
It was a clinical performance from Romania as Florin Vlaicu scored a penalty to give them a late lead. Canada couldn’t recover to succumb to their fourth defeat of the tournament; the first time they have lost all of their matches in a Rugby World Cup.
